Kuwait treads water amid sluggish trade

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Mabanee Co rallies 10 fils, VIVA dips

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 13: Kuwait stocks trod water on Tuesday as it extended the lackluster performance from start of the week. The All Shares Index inched 1.86 pts lower to 5,101.77 points in largely tame session even as some of the counters logged strong gains.

The Prime Market climbed 7 pts to 5,297.94 points while Main Market skidded 18.3 pts to 4,747.2 points taking the month’s gains to 54 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile ebbed for the third day in row to hit the lowest level from start of the month. Over 99 million shares changed hands – down 7.7 pct from the day before. The sectors closed mostly in red turf. Real estate outled the rest with 0.3 pct gain whereas consumer goods dipped 1.35 percent, the biggest loser of the day.

Volume wise, financial services mustered the highest market share of 29.9 pct and banks trailed with over 20 percent contribution. Among the standout performers, Mabanee Co rallied 10 fils to 639 fils and Burgan Bank was up 4 fils on back of over 3 million shares.

Humansoft Holding bounced from Monday’s trough to close 30 fils higher at KD 3.230 while Kuwait Portland Cement soared 64 fils. Zain fell 1 fil to 464 fils after trading 2.9 million shares and Ooredoo scaled 5 fils to settle at 730 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) dipped 21 fils to 789 fils paring the month’s gains to 54 fils and Agility rose 5 fils to 829 fils. The market opened firm and edged lower in early trade. The main index pulled up to scale the day’s highest level of 5,106 pts and retreated again as sentiment turned sour.

It drifted listlessly thereafter and bottomed at 5,089 pts past the mid-session before revving up in the final minutes to claw back most of the losses at close. Top gainer of the day, Amar Finance and Leasing Co climbed 9.8 pct to 35.6 fils and Warba Insurance Co scaled 6.90 percent to stand next. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co skidded 7 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Jiyad topped the volume with 9.7 million shares.

The market spread was slightly skewed towards the losers. 46 stocks advanced whereas 55 closed lower. Of the 118 counters active on Tuesday, 17 closed flat. 4,600 deals worth KD 16 million were transacted – up 8 percent in value from the day before. National Industries Group took in 1 fil on back of 2.4 million shares and Mezzan Holding shed 10 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co tripped 1 fil and Al Qurain Petrochemical inched 1 fil lower to 387 fils. Gulf Cable ticked 1 fil up to 379 fils.

Jazeera Airways rose 4 fils to 749 fils and ALAFCO slipped 5 fils to 360 fils erasing most of Monday’s gains. Kuwait Cement Co shed 15 fils and Gulf Cable dialed up 1 fil. ACICO and NICBM gave up 5 fils each to close at 195 fils and 170 fils respectively. Kuwait Foundry Co fell 4 fils to 185 fils and Equipment Holding Co tripped 1 fil to wind up at 26.8 fils.

Combined Group Contracting Co climbed 9 fils to 379 fils and Independent Petroleum Group fell 5 fils to 409 fils. KPPC ticked 0.5 fil down to 56.6 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co trimmed 0.4 fil and KGL Logistics dialed up 0.6 fil to end at 42.8 fils. OSOS took in 0.2 fil and Al Rai Media Group added 1.1 fils. Inovest eased 0.1 fil to 88 fils and Ithmaar clipped 0.2 fil.

In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait edged 1 fil down to 835 fils with a volume of over 2 million whereas Kuwait Finance House and Kuwait International Bank stood pat at 594 fils and 243 fils respectively. Ahli United Bank dialed up 2 fils. Commercial Bank was unchanged at 500 fils whereas Al Mutahed tripped 1 fil before settling at 290 fils. Gulf Bank took in 1 fil and Warba Bank clipped 2 fils to close at 230 fils. Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the session KIPCO was flat at 211 fils and GIH edged 0.3 fil into red. International Financial Advisors fell 2 fils to 33 fils while National Investment Co and Coast Investment Co clipped 0.3 fil each. Securities House Co gave up 0.4 fil. KAMCO ticked 0.1 fil down and FACIL clipped 2 fils to close at 172 fils. KMEFIC added 1.2 fils whereas Al Mal Investment and KFIC paused at 22.5 fils and 38 fils respectively.

NIH was up 1.9 fils at 60.9 fils and Unicap took in 0.3 fil. Noor Financial Investment tripped 0.1 fil while Ektittab Holding and Al Imtiaz held ground at 22.5 fils and 126 fils respectively. Sokouk Holding fell 1.1 fils to 42.6 fils and Al Deera Holding gave up 1.4 fils.

Kuwait Insurance Co slipped 5 fils and Ahleia Insurance Co clipped 2 fils. Salhiya Real Estate paused at 330 fils while Kuwait Real Estate Co and United Real Estate added 0.5 fil each.

Mazaya Holding dialed down 2 fils and National Real Estate ticked 0.1 fil higher to 94 fils.

The bourse has been mixed so far during the week adding 3 pts in last three sessions and has climbed 59 points so far during the month. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.

By John Mathews Arab Times Staff

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